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Climate 101

The science is settled

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that man-made climate change is a reality. We know it’s happening, and we know why: carbon pollution is warming our planet and creating dirty weather like extreme droughts, flooding, wildfires, and superstorms. And we’re all paying the price for it in lives, livelihoods, food and water scarcity, and in every way imaginable.

What can we do? Reduce carbon pollution. Right now, scientists tell us that we’re on track to see global temperatures rise up to 4°C by the end of the century, with a shift to a clean-energy economy, we can still create the sustainable and prosperous future we all want. But we have to act now.

"Climate 101" with Bill Nye

What You Can Do

Take Climate 101 with Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and you'll be schooled in the scientific fundamentals of climate change in under 5 minutes. Separate fact from fiction, and we can end the debate and denial and move on to solutions, together.

This is what we know

Carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas is driving climate disruption and warming our planet. It’s simple: the more carbon pollution in the air, the more the sun’s energy gets trapped as heat. Which means things keep getting hotter. In fact, the world has already gotten nearly 1°C warmer since 1880.

Warmer temperatures have real consequences for all of us—not just for polar bears. Sea levels around the world have risen nearly 20cm since 1901, swallowing entire islands and creeping closer to populated areas of great coastal cities like New York, Melbourne, Venice, Dakar, Guayaquil, and Chittagong. Plus, extreme weather events like torrential rain, floods, heat waves, and drought are becoming more frequent and intense.

CLIMATE CHANGE: THE BASICS

Learn the basic facts of climate change.

The scientists get it.

The primary culprit: Industrial carbon pollution

Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

Current warming trend

Warmer sounds nice, right?

Sea level rise

A few degrees makes a big difference

We have the solutions.

“The warming that we’ve seen in the last 30 years is clearly due to human-made greenhouse gases.”-James HansenFormer director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

The denial machine

Meanwhile, Big Polluters like oil and coal companies aren’t going down without a fight. After all, they’re making billions from dirty energy while the rest of us pay to clean up their mess. That’s why they’ve spent decades running well-funded campaigns to mislead and deceive the public about what’s really happening to the planet. These polluters—and the special-interest groups they support—are even following the exact same playbook as the tobacco industry used to confuse the public about smoking and cancer.

But scientists aren’t confused about carbon pollution and climate disruption. And we shouldn’t be either. If Big Polluters are spreading lies and blocking our path to a clean-energy future, then it’s up to us to call them out and get them out of the way. Our future is at stake.

"DOUBT"

What You Can Do

Why are climate change deniers using the same twisted strategies as Big Tobacco to instill doubt? Maybe it's because in both cases, the facts are not in their favor.

Carbon pollution is costing us

Rising carbon pollution levels are raising global temperatures and disrupting our natural systems. The result? More extreme weather disasters, higher healthcare bills, and an uncertain future for our children, to name only a few costs.

The good news is that we have a choice. We can keep paying the cost of carbon pollution to our livelihoods, our environment, our health, and to every aspect of our lives. Or we can shift to renewable energy, put a market price on carbon, and make the polluters pay for the damage they do.

What you can do

A global challenge needs a global solution. So we’re inviting everyone to join the solution culture that’s taking on the biggest issue humanity has ever faced and to create a sustainable and prosperous future for us all.

To do this, we all need to step up and play our part. And there are many ways you can help. Wherever you are, whatever you do, and whatever time you have, you can do something right now to bring us one step closer to a future without carbon pollution.

Whether it’s watching a video that expands your awareness of the issue, sharing a post, signing a petition, reaching out to your leaders, donating to initiatives, wearing our gear, attending a training, or organizing a climate presentation in your community, the actions you take can have a real impact and help take our movement forward. We can create a better future, but only if we do it together.

U.S. Global Change Research Program

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate website consolidates U.S. climate trends, data, climate change news, as well as teaching aids and tools to help explain the issues better.

Climate Central

Climate Central is a credible source of climate change news and analysis, as well as a range of videos, graphics and mapping tools that visualize local impacts like heat, extreme weather, and sea level rise.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), while not devoted exclusively to clean energy, is a source of U.S. data, trends, graphics, reports, and analysis on renewable energy and carbon emissions.

NOAA’s Coastal Climate Adaptation site

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme’s Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change page is a Pacific-region focused resource helping communities to become more resilient to climate change’s impacts.